CRUSH HOUR: Commuters yesterday head home from Penn Station, which will be empty today when trains shut down. Photo: Matthew McDermott

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Welcome to transit hell.

Nearly every facet of New York City’s transportation system will begin to completely shut down today at noon — an extraordinary, first-of-its-kind precautionary measure to prepare for Hurricane Irene.

The New York City subway and bus system, Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North, the PATH trains and NJ Transit trains will all undergo the difficult and time-consuming process of a complete service suspension.

The MTA has called in extra workers and canceled all employee time off to embark on the daunting task of closing the country’s largest subway system, which carries 6 millions passengers a day and covers 840 miles of track.

The arduous process — which was last done in 2005 for the transit strike — includes sending workers to lock up each of the system’s 468 stations, moving trains to safe spots away from flood zones, and cutting the power on all of the lines.

All of the city’s buses will be off the road by early afternoon, a far less difficult task that’s still expected to take hours.

To handle the huge amount of work, the MTA has called in an additional 1,370 workers.

With subways and buses out of service, the city is enacting the same rules that were in effect during the transit strike

Starting at 9 a.m. today, cabs will take groups rides — with special rates in each zone — and liveries will be allowed to pick up street hails.

Passengers will be allowed to travel with their pets.

Mayor Bloomberg is asking taxis to hit the areas which are under mandatory evacuation to help people move out.

Fares on buses in neighborhoods that were ordered to evacuate will be free until the lines are closed this afternoon, with reduced rates on the subways in those areas.

The historic shutdown rivals anything in recent memory. Even on 9/11, subways were up and running within a few hours.

In this case, officials have no idea how long the system will be out, in part because restarting will be so time-consuming, and Bloomberg cautioned there will still be outages during Monday’s morning commute.

Straphangers were stunned at the loss of service — and divided as to whether it was necessary.

“It’s a huge inconvenience,” said James Medaglio, 23 of Hoboken. “If it [Irene] is nothing, people will be pretty pissed.”

But Eidy Calderon, 38, a stay-at-home mom, from Flushing, thought it was better to be safe.

“Everybody’s going to complain. It wouldn’t be New York if they didn’t,” she said.

With the hurricane barreling toward the city, officials also made plans to close bridges if winds get too high.

Most bridges will close if the winds are continually reaching 60 mph, which could happen by tomorrow afternoon.

The George Washington Bridge — the world’s busiest — will close the lower level if sustained winds reach 40 miles an hour, expected around midnight.

To get people out of the area faster, officials nixed the tolls on several spans beginning yesterday, including the Throgs Neck, Bronx-Whitestone, Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge and the Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge.

Toll collection also was halted on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.

The decision to close tunnels will be done on a case-by-case basis, depending on the amount of flooding and how fast the water is getting in.

“It would have to be unpassable before it is closed,” said Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman, whose agency operates the Lincoln and Holland tunnels.

The Staten Island Ferry could be taken out of service if sustained winds reach 46 mph.

Shutdown begins around noon. The last train out of Penn Station is the 12:23 p.m. train to Huntington.

METRO-NORTH

Shutdown begins at noon. The last Metro-North train out of Grand Central Terminal is the 12:20 p.m. to Croton Harmon, and the last Metro-North train out of Penn Station is the 1:14 p.m. to Port Jervis.

AMTRAK

Serious service shutdown on East Coast trains begins today. No trains will be operating at all in the Northeast tomorrow.

PATH

Service suspended beginning at noon.

NJ TRANSIT

No trains beginning at noon. Trains scheduled to leave terminals before noon will continue to their destination. Bus and light rail service suspended at 6 p.m.

SI FERRY

Scheduled service could be delayed if officials think it’s too dangerous.

BRIDGES

Spans will be shut to all traffic if sustained winds reach 60 mph; closed to motorcycles, large trucks and mobile homes if sustained winds reach 40 to 50 mph. Tolls will be suspended on the Verrazano.

TUNNELS

Closure will depend on level of flooding and how fast it is occurring.